A Poem that would get me booed off stage at Busboys and Poets

I wanted to be a nihilist
but I care to much for you

Then I wanted to be an atheist
but I know it's God that's helped me through

And I wanted to be a revolutionary
but I like my current place

So I wanted to be an iconoclast
but there's nothing I want to break

Next I wanted to be an existentialist
but Satre was a womanizer, and I'm a feminist

Therefore I wanted to be a communist
but Che ordered firing squads and labor camps to quell Cuban dissent

One last try at being an idealist
But tomorrow I have to wake up, find a job, pay the rent

So you'll see me on the street
but don't feel bad for me as I pass by

Just another
blue suit,
blue pants,
black tie,

Just your average, everyday, suburban white guy.

Petrarchan Sonnet

The Petrarchan Sonnet form is an octave of ( a b b a a b b a ) then a sestet of ( c d c d c d ).

The old man said, “God hath given me fine
Health.” Rocking flaccidly back and forth on
His wooden handcrafted seat. He thereupon
Swallows the heart pills set beside the divan.

Did God stay mum surveying His un-kind
Creation? Or did it fester then dawn
On him that humans may require a frond,
To shield them from a world devoid of the divine?

Billy Bailey is at it again!

The most dramatic scene of the Frank Capra classic "It's a Wonderful Life" is not when George Bailey tells Clarence that his life is worth living and he wants to go home. Most people choose, yes, after reviewing what would have happened were they not to live and love. The most dramatic, derived from the Greek "to do", scene in the movie is when Billy Bailey loses the money in Mr. Potter's bank. Billy is the quintessential well meaning man. He wants to help his nephew run the bank. However, by misplacing the $8,000 helps run the bank into the ground. Billy's well meaning gaffe leads to Mr. Potter finding the money and not returning it to George (another essay on evil could be written about Potter), the bank examiners finding the bank insolvent, a run on the bank, and eventually George's decision to kill himself.

Well, given the drama this week I'd like to posit that Billy is at it again in the form of our business and government leaders. Yes ladies and gentlemen there is enough blame for everybody. I'm not an economist, hardly, but I do know that the current difficulties we are encountering are not borne of an evil Mr. Potter but bumbling well meaning men. On the business side you had businessmen doing what businessmen do: trying to make money. The way they were doing this was to give out risky mortgage loans at low interest rates that would go up in the future. They would make money NOW and bet on the economy expanding. There was no need to worry because housing prices were on the rise and people's paychecks would rise as well giving them ample opportunity to repay the loans. Large corporations also began buying up these loans to leverage their portfolios. Billy Bailey was fine as long as the $8,000 was in his hand.

Our government leaders weren't much help either in this. As the housing market grew the government forced Fannie and Freddie to lower their standards for loaning money. Now people who couldn't afford or qualify for loans were getting the green light from Fannie and Freddie to buy houses. Well meaning Billy strikes again. There was no oversight of these unsound loans and their specious balance sheets. Our Congress did not oversee any of these loans since the housing markets were bullish. Billy Bailey had not tied the rope around his finger to remember where the money was.

So now we've got this whole debacle with the government bailing out Fannie and Freddie, nationalizing AIG, and most recently the classic Frank Capra-esque run on WaMu that resulted in it's downfall. However this shakes out, it was not evil or greed that led George to the ledge that Christmas Eve. It was well meaning, unreflective, bumbling old, wonderfully human Uncle Billy.

Something to Ponder

While watching ESPN the immortal Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame coach, blurted out,

"The only difference between CHAMP and CHUMP.....is U".

Think about it.

On Choice

DONT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE DARK KNIGHT, GO SEE THE MOVIE THEN READ

"You know.... I just do, things." The painted madman confesses to the district attorney he has just disfigured. Here, in the evacuated hospital he has threatened to blow up, the Joker explains to Harvey Dent his rationale for committing the many horrors he has throughout the movie. He has none.

In the new movie The Dark Knight the audience is confronted with the issue of choice. Why do we do the things we do? What are the principles and axioms that lead us to make the important decisions in our lives? In the movie all of the major characters have choices to make in their lives that are informed by their worldview.

Batman, the movie's hero, begins the movie by choosing to become the savior the city has asked him to be. He foils Scarecrow's plans and beats up some Russians in the process (we hope their Russians, not Georgians). He helps Lt. Gordon find Lau in Hong Kong and take down the mob. Batman is the knight in shining armour for the city. However, his principled choice of becoming the superhero comes at a cost. He knows that he can never be with the woman he loves, Rachel Dawes, while he is saving the city as the Batman. He also knows that although the city is grateful for his efforts he can and does become vilified as a hired gun.

Harvey Dent also begins the movie by making the right choices based upon his view of justice. He is the new star in Gotham ready to clean up the streets. Distrusting of the corrupt system he works with Batman to arrest Lau and the mobsters that have run rampant throughout the city. Dent is the moral backbone of the city with his coin of two heads always knowing that it will land on the side of justice.

Even the criminals act on a logical level. They know that their ultimate goal is monetary gain. The criminal mastermind, Lau, understands this when he collects the money of the mob bosses when he gets wind of the police raid. The mobsters understand this as they band together in a back room to game plan their actions.

But the Joker has no such framework on which to function. This is what makes him so dangerous. Most choice is based upon your core principles and values. Even if those core principles are flawed, as in the case of the mob, they are still comprehensible. Actions flow from first principles. What happens when there are no first principles? What happen, as the Joker says, when you add a little "anarchy" into your thought process? Chaos.

The Joker attempts to introduce into an orderly world choices that pit people of good will against each other. He begins to kill until the Batman shows his face. Now, Batman must choose between revealing his identity (and thus his ability to be a superhero) or live with the knowledge people are dying. Ultimately, the Batman bests the Joker through the realization that people will not go against their first principles. People will make the moral choice given the opportunity.

Harvey Dent is not so lucky. His downfall is the real tragedy of this action movie. Although he is the bulwark of law and order he contains within him the all too human characteristics of vengeance and mistrust. When the Joker kills Rachel Dawes through a sadistic game of choice he is spiritually as well as physically disfigured. He feels betrayed by a life based on the first principles of justice and love. He abandons his values. Choices are now made arbitrarily with the flip of a coin.

Harvey's descent into evil is ultimately hidden from Gotham as Batman becomes "the hero that Gotham deserves, not the hero it needs, that was Harvey Dent". But has Gotham been done a disservice through this cover up? Should we have pristine heroes to idolize? Or should we know that men are fallible, even the best men, and be ever reminded that even the best men can be corrupted?

On Responsibility

What would you do if you had superpowers? In his new movie Hancock Will Smith plays a misunderstood superhero with the aforementioned name. Hancock lives in Los Angeles spending his days drinking and sleeping. He occasionally uses his superpowers to catch a bad guy or to save an old lady. Unfortunately, due to his disheveled appearance and generally inebriated irresponsibility he saves the day gracelessly. While catching the bad guys he accumulates damages to the city which do not ingratiate him to the citizens of Los Angeles. Ultimately, we learn that Hancock's irresponsible behavior is linked to a void in his past. We find that he has lived most of the life he remembers without friends or family. Without ruining the movie, Hancock eventually understands the source of his superpowers and comes to the realization that his superpowers are meant to protect people. Given his unique superpowers he has a responsibility.

When I Googled "Responsibility" it directed me to a website that gives "Tools for Personal Growth". Accordingly they presume personal growth is taking personal responsibility for your actions. Accepting personal responsibility opens up myriad opportunities to "Recognizing that you are your best cheerleader" and "Taking an honest inventory of your strengths, abilities, talents, virtues, and positive points". Conversely, not accepting responsibility results in everything from being "Overly dependent on others for recognition, approval, affirmation, and acceptance" to "Over responsible and guilt ridden in your need to rescue and enable others in your life". Wow, overly dependent while being overly responsible. One better get some personal responsibility and quick!

Personal responsibility is acknowledging that the first person you look at in the morning and the last person you look at before you go to bed is you. Realizing you are the one constant in your life. Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor in his Meditations Book 7 said, "I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me. But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions." My good friend Chris in high school said, "Look man, no one is going to come along and shove sunshine up your ass. You have to make your own decisions." Hardly an eloquent Roman statesman, Chris had the right idea. Responsibility starts with personal responsibility.

However, what about this concept of having a superpower? Or some type of gift that others do not possess? Is it your responsibility to share it with others? Does Hancock have a responsibility to use his superpowers for the good of other people? This brings up the Aristotelian notion of "ought" or moral responsibility (thanks Fr. Schall for teaching me this stuff).

In life, it is always a question of what one "ought" to do versus what one "can" do.

Some would say that Hancock or anyone with a special gift is being irresponsible not sharing it with the community. Gifts are given to humans so that they can be shared to create a better world. Not to do so would in fact be selfish. One "ought" to help.

Others would say that Hancock's gifts are to do with as he pleases. It only hurts him if he squanders his talents by drinking and grabbing at women all day. He "can" help but the world won't miss out if he doesn't since they don't know his talents in the first place.

So I leave it to you. If you were a superhero. If you had the power to fly, the power to lift trains, the power to run the speed of light, ought you use it to help others?

Or, if you had the power of education, the power of luxury, the power of finance, the power of freedom, the power of a vote. What ought you do with these superpowers?

Terza Rima

So the Terza Rima rhyme scheme is a-b-a, b-c-b, c-d-c, d-e-d with an ending of either d-e-d or e-e couplet. According to the almighty Wikipedia it is supposed to be really difficult in English since there are not enough words in English that rhyme and thus too restrictive. I'm gonna try to describe my day using this format. Hopefully in iambic pentameter.

"Uphill, here on out." The old woman squeals
as she pedals away. Her sun bleached
sun dress flows in the breeze as if to reveal

A secret. The first leg is there to teach
Children how to ride. Speckled with tricycles
like little hermit crabs scurrying along the beach.

A flat well paved and marked encyclical
path lay ahead. Opening the thick brush
to the onslaught of suburban bicycles.

Pushing harder the blood begins to rush.
The gears shift to create greater tension
making what was once easy much less such.

The Franciscans tell it as near to Ascension.
One with the road, wilderness, and creation.